As a result of the popularity, demand and success of Internet services over the past two decades, a company's ability to provide network access (e.g., Wi-Fi access) has evolved from a mere luxury to a necessity. It is not uncommon for companies to invest heavily in network administration resources to maintain secure networks for registered users (e.g., employees, customers who pay subscription fees, or members who register accounts). The architecture that is established permits such registered users to access a network in a manner that is relatively secure. However, the current options for providing network access to unregistered users (e.g., walk-in customers in a coffee shop, non-member individuals who do not have registered accounts or logins for a network, visitors in a hospital, or guests in a building with Wi-Fi access) is very limited and inadequate for a number of reasons.
For unregistered users, a network administrator typically offers a “no-password” or “one-password-for-all” option that enables the users to access a local network. However, offering network access in either manner makes the entire network vulnerable to security breaches. In addition, these techniques permit users to access the network anonymously without any supervision or monitoring. As a result, the users may engage in undesirable activities (e.g., such as committing cybercrimes) without being held accountable.
With a no-password option, anyone can access the network—even those individuals who are simply walking along a sidewalk (e.g., window-shopping) outside of the store location or sitting in a parking lot near the store location. With a one-password-for-all policy, customers who are initially given the password may keep the password for future use and/or provide the password to other individuals. Because of this, many user devices and Wi-Fi hotspot devices are not compliant with effective security standards and are, therefore, not secure. Thus, while these non-secure authentication systems provide easy access to networks, they also permit users to easily steal customer access and account login information, and to engage in other harmful activities on the network.
Although there are some existing approaches for authorizing unregistered users to access network resources, these approaches do not allow for the implementation of security measures to reduce vulnerability and criminal mischief (as described above) in a simple and efficient manner. For example, common approaches for authorizing unregistered users to access a network require network administrators to create a unique user account (e.g., which requires a valid username and password) for each active user. These accounts are constantly monitored and reinforced with a policy that periodically changes or updates the passwords associated with the accounts. While these authorization techniques may suffice for managing registered users, they are inadequate for unregistered users who typically are seeking quick and easy access to the network.
Other deficiencies associated with providing network access to unregistered users relate to the inability to effectively track and/or aggregate data associated with the users. For example, current techniques do not enable network administrators to easily track the network activities of unregistered users (e.g., to assist law enforcement in monitoring criminal activity) while they interact with the network.
Likewise, current techniques do not enable the network administrator to aggregate data (e.g., demographic information) associated with the unregistered users for marketing or other purposes. For example, various users of different ages, ethnic groups, and gender or of different spending habits may visit different websites or engage in other behavior while accessing the network as unregistered users. The activities of these different groups or categories of users could provide information valuable for marketing, advertising, or promoting various products. However, current approaches do not allow network administrators to capture any of this information.
Similarly, current approaches do not permit blocking of network access where appropriate or desired. For example, a network administrator may desire to provide limited access to the network for certain users, such as to prevent a child user from accessing websites that promote cigarettes or alcohol, or to block pop-ups of certain advertisements. However, current approaches only allow network administrators to provide access to the entire network or to deny access entirely.
In view of the above, there is a need for systems and methods that provide unregistered users with quick and easy, but secure, access to the Internet without the need for supervision or monitoring. There is further a need for systems and methods that conveniently and efficiently record, monitor, manage and aggregate data associated with the unregistered users' network activities.